Thursday, January 21, 2010

Chittlins


So I can't help but wonder if I'm in for a lifetime of stress.
Part of the joy of having three kids under 5 is that we'll be "getting it out of the way" all at once. Not like I don't enjoy it, but you know, that's just what they say. You raise them all at once and then you're done. You're not starting over in 5 years with another bottles bibs and burpies. Stupidly, I thought that would mean this would be somewhat easy? What was I drinking when I had that epiphany?
I just gave thanks to the Lord that Ethan has moved beyond the stage of screaming/crying over food. As in, every morning, no matter how careful we were, something about breakfast was not prepared correctly. And we all know that "Actually mom, I didn't want syrup on the pancakes, I wanted it in a bowl so I could dip it, but that's ok, thank you so much for a great breakfast even though it's 5 am and I know you'd rather be sleeping, etc..." is not a part of a 2-3 year old's vocabulary. I guess they just know that crying over it will make us do anything to make it right. Nevertheless, the kid has moved on. Moved on to pleases and thank you's, excuse me's and may I's. It was wonderful...for the 1 day it lasted. Then it was like something in Hannah's brain clicked. "Wait a minute, polite? what's that? I want what I want right now and I'm gonna get it no matter what!". She has decided to pick up right where E left off. I dealt with it for 2 years, stressful mornings of walking on eggshells, and now it's Hannah's turn. So 2 more years of this, seriously? I don't know if I can handle that. Because now I'm thinking, when she stops, Grant will start, and then when he's done, it will be Ethan's turn to start the "I hate you's and you're the worst mother ever!" phase... And then is that all gonna repeat, and then Hannah will hit the "boy crazy" phase, and my sons will have girlfriends, and fights, and school issues, and Oh my, I don't know if I can even deal with this!
I guess I'll just have to take it "One Day At a Time", like the AA members say. Because let's face it, being a SAHM is almost like recovering from an addiction. An addiction to thinking it's all about me.

4 comments:

Jen dare said...

um,...yeah...one day at a time? try "one hour at a time" on for size. that is the phase that i am in this week :)

Catherine H said...

I could not have said this any better!! AMEN!!

Mandy said...

I am sure there are plenty of people you could fool into adopting them with a NO RETURN policy. They are pretty cute!!!

Or drink more. It seemed to work for the generation before us.

Whichever.

:)

Anonymous said...

lol....wow. this is my favorite line: "...being a SAHM is almost like recovering from an addiction. An addiction to thinking it's all about me. " - That's so good! I'll be adding it to our blog!

Abber - Hang in there. It's rough. And I'm the Dad so I don't even know the 1/2 of it. But....you control much of it. remember that! :) Not easy, but do-able. Make things structured, don't be afraid to say 'no'. Most important? Consistency. But alas, all the best efforts are still met with resistance. It's the nature of the beast. Or, in this case, the little crum-snathing BEASTS...known as our kids.
Love you sis!

What would we all do if we didn't have the internet to write 1/2 joking, 1/2 desperate and on-edge blog posts about the trials of parenting? :)

-Your brother, Paul